The Prophecy

Reign? Kallin? What the hell is he talking about? Where did he even get those names from?

Reign was in a state of confusion that he tried not to outwardly show. Surely his brother had his reasons for what he said, but he was left completely in the dark on them. After all, he had just been “Reese” mere moments ago and had never heard of either name before.

But he trusted his brother. Always had, always would. From this point forward, he was Reign Rivellan. And his brother was Kallin.

Reign bowed his head in the direction of Maven to keep up the charade.

“We’re really sorry for deceiving you, Maven. Especially after everything you’ve done to help us get here.

Maven shook his head, a wry smile on his face.

“No apologies are necessary! You two found yourselves in a terrifyingly unfamiliar situation. It’s only natural that you would want to be vigilant around the first stranger you met here.”

After watching the exchange go down, Kallin felt reassured that his brother was now on the same page. He turned to face King Titus once more.

“We appreciate the audience, sir. It’s been a very strange couple of hours, but Maven here really helped us out.”

Kallin glanced down, opening the palm of his black-and-silver hand, and looked back to face the three men in front of him.

“If you don’t mind us further imposing, could you please help us to understand our current situation? Maven told us about a summoning and a prophecy – what exactly does any of it mean?”

The first step in figuring things out was to get the kingdom’s side of the story. What better place to start than the king himself?

“Ahhh, not this boring story again!”

With an exasperated sigh, the young man to the king’s left shook his head and threw his hands up into the air.

“I was hoping this would wrap up quickly so that I could get the hell out of here!”

“Adonis!”

A thunderous roar bellowed from the king’s right, a voice belonging to the bearded man who now stepped across the carpet to face the young man.

“Have some respect in front of his Majesty and his guests! I ought to beat some manners into you.”

A golden aura flickered around the angry man, hostility directed toward the one he called “Adonis.”

Adonis responded in kind, clearly entertained by the rageful display.

“Oooooh, scary! Now things are getting interesting! I’ve always wanted to fight you in the king’s presence so he could see how much better I am than ya, Leon!”

Adonis bore a wicked smile, his own incredible silver aura spiking around him to clash with Leon’s. The room began to tremble under the incredible pressure being exerted. Titus remained extremely calm, merely shaking his head and putting a palm to his forehead in disapproval.

“That’s quite enough, you two.”

Immediately, the intensity quelled, and Adonis and Leon quickly returned to their original positions beside him.

“Yes, sir!” They both exclaimed simultaneously.

It was evident just how much respect they had for him, requiring nearly no resistance to stop their heated disagreement.

“Apologies for that display just now, they can both be a bit fiery. I give them a pass since they are my two best soldiers, so I suppose I enable it a bit. To my left is Adonis Caldwell, a prodigious magic user and the youngest general in our military’s history. To my right, Leon Arfold, the undefeated “Great Lion” of the Margoldian army.”

Both men stood proud at the praise from their king, brimming with a quiet fierceness that was palpable.

Maybe it’s due to this new power, but I feel as though I can easily tell – these two are unfathomably powerful!

Kallin thought this to himself, wondering if the addition of this arm allowed him to sense one’s level of power. Or their aptitude for essence, as Maven had called it.

“And you both have already met my top military and political advisor, Maven Margold.”

Maven had gone and taken his place beside Leon, bowing to the boys as he was formally introduced once more.

“These men right here were among those who summoned you here.”

Looking across the row of incredibly powerful people before them, Kallin and Reign began to sweat. A natural instinct, a stress response in the face of overwhelming circumstance.

“In any case,” the king continued, “let’s get to the reason you two are here.”

He stood from the throne for the first time since the party had entered, beginning a stroll towards the right side of the throne room as he spoke. His presence was beyond overwhelming – surely the strongest person in the room, Kallin estimated.

“Hundreds of years ago, the Demon Monarch, Lubel, was defeated by the Armed Heroes. That name is meant in the literal sense – strange, unknown power present in their arms that is unlike any magic this world has ever seen. Lubel possessed two of arguably the most powerful of them – The Life Arm and the Death Arm.”

“Ooh, scary!” Adonis chirped, “I wish I could have fought him!”

Titus smirked at his subordinate’s quirky enthusiasm and paced back toward the throne as he continued.

“Lubel was a special case – almost no magic attacks affected him, and regular weapons were more than useless. The only attacks that seemed to damage him were those waged by the Armed Heroes. Physical attacks, special abilities, a simple punch or scratch – anything worked as long as it was done with one of those Arms.”

Titus had circled back and now stood before his throne, where he sat and leaned against his closed right fist, pointing at the twins with his left.

“That is where you two come in. You each wield the power of the most potent Armed weapons this world has ever seen. Genesis and Abyss, Life and Death, creation and destruction – it is all very close to one and the same.”

“What exactly do we need to do? For starters, we don’t even know how to use these things. We were lucky to survive our fight with those monsters earlier“ Kallin replied.

“Yeah, thanks for that by the way!” Reign interjected, pointing an angry finger at Maven. “You almost got us killed!”

Maven chuckled at the accusation, waving a gloved hand in their direction.

“A mere trial, it was. A litmus test of your current capabilities.”

“Current capabilities? We had barely just arrived here! We had no clue what was going on with our arms, had never experienced a life-or-death fight before!”

Reign had taken a few steps in Maven’s direction, trembling with rage as he spoke. Typically the more laid back of the two, he had a lesser-known tendency to intensely express his anger.

“I understand your frustrations, I do” Maven said, shifting his tone to a more serious one. He peered across the room with a cold blue stare that sent a shiver up Kallin’s spine, “but I had to see for myself. We have been waiting a very long time for this day, after all. It may not have been long in your world, but it was hundreds of years in ours.”

The revelation stunned the boys to silence. Hundreds of years since what? Was time really that slow in their world compared to the one they found themselves in now? Kallin began to inquire, but Titus picked up where he left off instead.

“With your arrival, the prophecy has now been partially redeemed. After hundreds of years of summoning rituals, which take the whole of each year just to prepare, we have found what we were looking for.”

Titus rose again, stretching his arms out as he made a plea.

“With that being said, we still need your help. We need to locate the other four Armed Heroes scattered about our lands – descendants of the ancient heroes who have now inherited their power.”

“Say we do end up successfully finding these heroes. Without knowing where the Demon Monarch is, what good will it do? If he hasn’t made a move in so long, what makes you think he will now?”

There were more questions than answers. More unknowns than information presented. Kallin had to find the truth. Why were they summoning otherworlders, as if expecting their greatest lost power to be present somewhere else?

“One of these heroes has the ability to find Lubel’s location. He is called the Prophet Hand – his ability is an incredibly prolific foresight that should draw the king of demons out of hiding.”

Titus clapped his hands together, thus concluding his presentation of the prophecy.

“Why haven’t the other heroes been found? Surely you have tried if its been this long!” Reign exclaimed.

“Watch yourself. You don’t think we have tried? No one knows who they are – generations of this kingdom’s nobility have been searching, but without knowing what we are looking for, its like searching for a needle in a haystack.”

Adonis snapped, his aura flaring angrily as he shouted in response to Reign’s accusations.

“The Genesis Hand and the Abyss Hand are the strongest of the six Armed Weapons. They give the users an incredible boost in perception – surely you’ve noticed a greater ability to perceive power, to recognize ability?”

As Titus posed the question, Kallin recalled the strange feelings he got walking into the throne room. The intense presence he felt from the king and his subordinates, the eerie sensation he got being around Maven.

“This ability is especially potent around those with Armed Weapons,” Leon carried on in a thunderous voice. “We have leads on possible locations, and just need you two to sniff out the individuals possessing the other Arms.”

Kallin and Reign looked at each other, each with an overwhelmed expression. It was information overload, and new questions seemed to be forming by the minute.

“Come, you two,” Maven said, clapping twice and strolling across the throne room. “You both must be exhausted – we’ll take the next steps after you have had adequate time to rest!”

The twins were ushered out of the room by Maven, with Leon following close behind.

Adonis began to follow, his hands clasped casually behind his head as he walked. Noticing the absence of everyone else, he turned and flashed a wry smile.

“Well that went rather well, don’t ya think?”

“Yes,” said the king, a wide grin on his face as he rested his head on his hands. “I suppose it has begun.”